Control
by redsandman99
Summary: Randy's losing control of himself because the voices are haunting him all the time. Mickie's the only one who can help him. Can she help him get control of himself before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

Randy stopped walking and closed his eyes. He had been walking for at least an hour now. It was pouring rain and he was freezing down to his bones, but that was okay. It gave him something to think about besides the voices. They kept whispering to him, telling him to do all sorts of things. A sound once so comforting had him on the brink of insanity. They used to stop when he wasn't in the ring. But now they had invaded almost every part of his life. Sam, his family, Ted, Cody--the voices all whispered when he was with them. And they got worse when he was alone. Only one person truly understood what was going on with him so that's where he was going now.

He was surprised to discover the voices stopped when he was near her. It hadn't been something he had been meaning to learn. They had literally bumped right into each other walking into the arena three weeks ago. He had opened his mouth to yell at her when he realized how quiet everything was inside of him. Everything was calm and he had felt like his old self again. So he began to seek her out as often as he could. She hadn't really questioned why he had settled on her of all people. It was kind of crazy considering most people thought they hated each other, but then again, neither of them were the picture of sanity. He was losing control of himself more and more often and she wasn't quite the sweet and perky girl next door she acted like now. She had a darkness in her too. She could just control it better.

Part of him did feel bad for going to her instead of Sam. Sam was his wife and she still loved him, no matter what he did. But Sam didn't make him feel sane anymore. Sam couldn't calm whatever beast had grown inside of him. And as bad as he felt, he had cheated on Sam with _her_. _She_ was quickly growing into his obsession. Sometimes he could even hear her voice in his head only it didn't torment him like the others did. Hers soothed him and made him feel calmer. It was useful for when he couldn't be with her physically.

He already had a key to her hotel room. She had snuck it to him during the show tonight. As far as they knew, nobody knew about them. That suited them just fine. It was nobody's business but theirs. He rode up the elevator and walked to her room, which was the last door on the left. Shivering uncontrollably, he let himself in without knocking first.

Mickie was laying on the bed watching TV. "Randy what the hell did you do?" she asked as she pretty much jumped to her feet. "Did you walk all the way here?"

"Yeah," Randy said. He couldn't stop staring at her. Everything about her was driving him wild, but in a good way.

"Boys," she muttered as she walked to the bathroom. She came back with a couple of towels. "Here, let's get you warmed up."

"Okay." But he didn't take the towels. Instead he grabbed her and started kissing her as passionately as he could. She dropped the towels and wrapped her arms around him, not caring if he was getting her clothes wet too. They started stumbling to the bed, taking the time to discard their shirts before they crashed down on to it.

"This was not exactly what I meant by getting you warmed up," Mickie said as Randy struggled to get his wet jeans off.

He smirked at her as he removed her pants. "Are you trying to tell me no?"

She smirked back. "That wasn't what I said, now was it?"

He chuckled and began kissing his way down her body. He started with her lips (which had the strawberry lip gloss that he couldn't get enough of), then her neck, her collarbone and then her breasts after he got the annoying and stupid bra off. Whoever invented those things needed to be shot. He kissed his way down her stomach as he removed her tiny red thong. "You call this underwear?" he asked. "You might as well walk around with no panties on at all."

She rolled her eyes. "We are not here to discuss my choice of underwear." She pulled his head back up so she could kiss his lips roughly. "So shut up and fuck me already."

He didn't need to be told twice. He slammed into her roughly because that was exactly how she liked it. Neither of them were exactly gentle with each other. It was getting harder and harder to make up a feasible excuse to Sam about where all these marks he was coming home with were coming from. Mickie could get downright nasty and kinky when she wanted to.

"Oh God Randy," Mickie moaned. She dug her nails into his shoulder so hard that she drew blood. He knew he should stop her from doing that but the pain was too good to resist. He began to thrust even harder, loving the way she scream as she came. He moaned her name incoherently as he came just a half a minute later.

Neither of them said anything for several minutes. They just laid side by side, tangled up in each other's arms. "Everything okay with you?" she asked.

He nodded. "It is now."

"Are you going to leave now?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't planning to."

"Good." She snuggled up against him. "Night Randy."

"Night Mickie."


	2. Chapter 2

Mickie woke up the next morning to find Randy gone. That didn't surprise or hurt her that much. Neither of them really wanted anyone to know what was going on between them. They weren't ashamed of anything; it was just going to be a gigantic hassle having to put up with all the whispers and the stares. The backstage atmosphere was worse than high school. So when they did spend the night together, Randy made sure to be back in his own room before Cody and Ted came a knocking.

As she got dressed, her mind drifted towards Sam. She did feel bad about being the one Randy was cheating with. But that faint feeling of guilt wasn't going to stop her any time soon. Randy did need her. Ever since he had come back from his collarbone injury, he had been on rampage that saw no end. It had only gotten worse after he had punted Vince McMahon in the head. His controlled anger and rage had gotten away from him. Almost everybody refused to believe the whole IED thing. They just thought he was evil, vindictive and psychotic. But as a former out of the box psycho herself, Mickie knew when someone was or wasn't in control of her actions. She had always been intuitive about that stuff, and spending time with Raven in TNA had helped her hone those skills. She had been in complete control when she had tormented Trish. And at one time, Randy had been in control. RKO'ing Stacy, punting everyone from John Cena's dad, Matt Hardy, RVD, Shawn Michaels--he had been in control then. But once the whole McMahon mess started, that was the point he had lost his control. She didn't know if it was IED or not, but she did know that he wasn't in control of himself half the time he was in the ring anymore. He tried to pretend he was, but she could see the lie in his eyes.

Sometimes, when somebody tries to make themselves as ruthless and as evil as possible, it creates a monster inside that person. Mickie had created her own monster once upon a time, but she had conquered it and hadn't looked back since. She was careful to always keep her control because there was only so far she wanted to go. If she had truly let herself go, she would run rampant across the likes of Beth Phoenix with no problem. But she would hurt her friends in the process and she didn't want that. She didn't want to hurt anyone she cared about and end up being alone again, like she was after she turned on Trish.

Randy didn't have the same motivation she did. He had no real friends besides Ted and Cody, and honestly, they were more like sheep than anything else. They didn't have the guts to tell him when he was going too far. Mickie did have the guts and she told him point blank how angry she was when he struck out at Stephanie. What nobody else knew was that he had really been remorseful about that. He had hidden it of course. IED or not, Randy did not want to admit out loud when he was wrong. It took a hell of a lot to even begin to push him to that point. But she could still tell. She could always tell.

She went to the restaurant across the street and met up with Melina, Kelly and Candice. "There you are," Melina said. "We were wondering where you were."

"I just got up," Mickie told her.

"We can tell," Kelly said. "You look like you just rolled out of bed and came to eat."

"Gee, thanks. That makes me feel great."

Candice studied her closely. "Mickie, are you aware that you're glowing?"

Mickie frowned. "Glowing? What do you mean by glowing?"

"I mean it looks like someone gave you a good fucking last night."

Damn Candice and her sexual intuitions. Mickie just shrugged and did her best to act like she had no idea what her friend was talking about. "I think you've finally lost it girl," she told Candice.

Melina grinned. "Actually Mickie, I think she's got a point. You do look like you just got laid."

Any further discussion on Mickie's sex life was cut off by a loud crash. Mickie looked over and groaned. A waiter carrying a whole bunch of plates had run into Randy and food had gotten all over the Legend Killer. The other wrestlers were watching him carefully. They were expecting to see a huge temper tantrum of some sort. They probably were even expecting to see the waiter get the shit kicked out of him. But what they didn't expect to see was Mickie getting up and putting herself between Randy and the waiter.

"Walk away," she said quietly so nobody else could hear. "Come on, let's walk away from this. You don't have to hurt anyone here."

Randy was absolutely seething. He really did look like he was going to punch the waiter, who was trying to apologize over and over again. But when Mickie put her hands on his chest, he calmly turned around and walked out.

Mickie sighed in relief. Maybe he didn't have that kind of restraint in the ring but at least he could have it when he wasn't. Then again, it only seemed like he had it because she had wisely interfered before he could do anything stupid. Whether she liked it or not, there was something else controlling him besides the voice and that was something was her. It was a scary and thrilling thought.

_Now hopefully I can keep that control so I can help him get it back himself before it's too late…_


	3. Chapter 3

"What was that earlier?"

Randy opened his eyes and glared at Ted. He didn't like the tone in the younger man's voice. It was too demanding and disrespectful. The little bastard seemed to be looking to challenge him. "What was what?" he demanded.

Ted didn't seem to get that Randy was teetering on the edge of sanity. "You nearly wailed on that waiter in that restaurant," he pointed out. "And then Mickie James got you to back off. _Mickie James_ of all people."

"So what?" Randy asked irritably. "She saved me from having a huge lawsuit on my hands. Why does it matter that it was her that calmed me down and not one of you?"

"Because she's just a useless diva!" Cody chimed in. "I mean, she's not bad looking or anything but why would you waste your time by letting her anywhere near you?"

_They're challenging you,_ a voice in Randy's head said. _Who are they to question what you do and who you let near you? Take them down. Remind them exactly why you are the leader of Legacy._ "I don't know what the hell you two are going on about," he growled. "You're both acting like there's something going on between me and Mickie."

Ted and Cody exchanged looks. "Well we saw the look you two were exchanging at the restaurant," Ted said. "It kind of looked like there was a connection or something."

Randy studied his two lackeys carefully. If these two suspected something was going on between them, that meant the rest of the locker room had already caught on. The rumors were probably already spreading like a forest fire. "Whether there is or isn't something going on between myself and Mickie is none of your business," he growled. He was hoping that the two of them would get the point because he could feel his control slipping. "Remember that." He turned around and started walking away.

"Dude, he's getting worked up over some fucking dumb bitch that gets overshadowed by the blonde bimbos," Cody whispered. "What the fuck is his deal?"

_Get him!_ another voice commanded. _Get him! Get him get him get him--_

Randy whirled around and lunged at Cody. He caught the younger man by the neck and smashed him up against the wall. "You keep your fucking mouth shut about her!" he ordered. "Do you understand me Cody? Don't you ever let me hear you say anything about her that's even remotely disrespectful!"

Ted tried to pull Randy off of Cody. "Dude, you're choking him! Come on Randy, calm down!"

_Come on Randy_, Mickie's voice said gently. _Loosen your grip. You don't want to hurt him. He's an idiot but he's not worth trying to strangle to death_.

Randy slowly let Cody go. Hearing Mickie's voice in his head let him regain some sense of control. He took several deep breaths while he stared a hole through Cody. "You just mind your own business Rhodes," he growled. "Or I'm going to make sure you can't bug anyone else ever again. Got it?"

Cody nodded. Randy looked at Ted. "Do you got it?"

"I got it," Ted said quickly. "I totally got it."

"Good." Randy stormed out, his fists curled up into balls and his jaw clenched. What the hell was with those two? They had no business commenting on Mickie. Those two couldn't get a girl worthy of anything to save their lives. They wouldn't know a good woman if they saw one. Mickie was his. End of discussion. Now if he could just find out where she went…

XXXXXXX

Mickie felt like she was in the Spanish Inquisition. Melina, Kelly and Candice had surrounded her and they were demanding answers to questions she didn't want to get into. "I don't see the big deal," she told them. "All I did was stop Randy from killing that waiter. Why is everyone acting like it's such a big deal?"

"Because it is a big deal," Melina said. "You may think we're blind, but we're not. We saw the raw sexual chemistry when you two locked eyes. You and Randy are involved."

_Oh God, I knew this was why I didn't have girls as friends when I was growing up_, Mickie thought to herself. _They always know too damn much._ "You're crazy," she tried to tell them. It wasn't right for her to lie but she didn't need everyone knowing about her sex life. "I think you all took some crazy pills during lunch today. I have no idea where you're getting all this."

Kelly gave Mickie a serious look. "Look, you don't have to lie to us. We're your friends and we'll support you. But you just need to be careful Mickie. Randy may _seem_ charming, but he'll turn out to be heartless bastard who plays with your feelings to get some sex and then turns on you and throws everything right back in your face." She took several deep breaths to calm herself back down. "Not that I'm bitter or anything. I just want you to be careful."

Mickie sighed. She knew that her friends were just trying to look out for her. Randy did have quite a reputation. "Randy and I, it's not what you and everyone else is gong to be thinking it is."

Candice raised her eyebrows. "Oh it won't be? Then can you explain what it is like then?

A knock on the door interrupted Mickie. Kelly answered it to reveal Randy was standing there. "Shit," Randy muttered. "This was a bad time."

"It's okay Randy," Melina said. "We pretty much figured it out. And we'll support Mickie if you're what she wants."

Kelly poked Randy in the chest as hard as she could. "You listen to me you slimy snake," she said. Each word was followed by another hard poke. "I don't care if you have IED or not. If you hurt Mickie like you hurt me, I will tie you down in your sleep and set you on fire. Do you understand me?"

Mickie got up and pulled Kelly away from Randy. "Okay, thank you for that Kelly. We're going to be going now." She took Randy's hand and led him out of the room. "Well the cat's out of the bag for them now. I don't get it. Do we have a sexual chemistry that everyone can see?"

Randy shrugged as he rubbed his chest. "I don't know about that, but I'll tell you one thing."

"What?"

"Kelly pokes really hard. And she threatened me!"

Mickie stopped in her tracks. "Randy…"

"Mickie, I'm not going to do anything else to her. I scorned her once, which means she really is looking for an excuse to set me on fire. I may have anger issues but I'm not stupid. Scorned women are not something to be played with."

She sighed. "Well at least you've learned something. That's a start."


	4. Chapter 4

Randy and Mickie ended up watching a movie in his hotel room. Now that the cat seemed to be out of the bag for the most part, they figured they could be a little less secretive. They weren't going to come out and completely flaunt their relationship. It still wasn't anyone else's business but theirs.

"What are we even watching?" he asked Mickie. He hadn't been paying much attention to the movie Mickie had ordered on pay per view.

"_Slumdog Millionaire_," she answered.

"Okay, why this?"

She grinned at him. "Because I want you to pay more attention to me than the movie."

He grinned back at her. "Oh really?"

"Yeah."

The phone rang, interrupting anything from getting started it. Randy was the one who answered it. "Hello."

"Hi honey," Sam said cheerfully. "I didn't wake you up did I?"

"Of course you didn't Sam," Randy said, saying his wife's name out loud so Mickie would know to be quiet. "I was just going to call you and make sure you and Alannah were doing okay."

Sam's smile could almost be heard in her voice. "Aw, how sweet of you. Yes, we're fine. We miss you, but we know you're going to be coming home tomorrow morning."

Randy winced. With everything that was going on with Mickie, he had almost forgotten about his flight back to St. Louis tomorrow. "Yeah, I can hardly wait to see you guys. Can I talk to Alannah real quick?"

"She's asleep right now. She had a play date with the neighbor boy Peter and it tired her out. But I know she's excited about you coming home. She keeps asking about you nonstop."

Randy grinned. "Well I'm excited about seeing her too." He glanced at the clock. "Listen Sam, I should really get some sleep. My flight is in a few hours and--"

"Oh of course," Sam said quickly. She didn't sound very upset by the conversation being cut short. "I know you're probably tired after working so hard. I just wanted to check on you before you went to sleep."

"Well I appreciate the concern. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye."

"Bye." Randy hung up the phone and sighed. It had been really hard for him to act natural right then and there. He looked over at Mickie. She was trying to act like she was really interested in the movie, but he knew she had been listening to every word he had said. "I had to tell her I loved her you know."

She looked at him. "I know you did. You do love her. I know that."

"It's not that I don't care about you at all. It's just that--"

"Sam is your wife Randy. You're supposed to love her." Mickie sat up and turned off the television. "This thing with us…it's not about love. We both knew that from the beginning. Yes we've had sex, but it's not about love."

"Then what is it about?" he asked. He was really interested in hearing her theory because he was losing track as each day went on.

She shrugged. "Friendship…control…comfort…hell if I know. I know the voices don't bother you when you're with me and you need that release from them. I also know that you need to gain control of them again and I want to help you gain that."

"And what's going to happen to us if I ever do get that control?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

Randy sighed and snuggled up against Mickie. He didn't know what to think anymore. He did love Sam. There was denying that fact. She had stuck by him through some difficult times and she was the mother of his child. She was the first woman he had ever truly loved. But sometimes, he found himself wondering if he was still truly _in_ love with her. Was he staying because he was still in love with her, or was he staying because he knew she was still madly in love with him? Was the love she gave him just a comfort he was used to now? He didn't want it to be that way, but sometimes he found himself asking these questions over and over again. They were worse than the voices sometimes.

Then there was the question of Mickie herself. He knew he cared about her. The way he had attacked Cody for insulting her proved that. The fact that he was jeopardizing his marriage to continue being her proved that. But was it love? Had he fallen in love with Mickie? She understood him in ways that Sam couldn't. It wasn't Sam's fault, but Mickie had her own psychotic issues in the past. Mickie could relate more to Randy on some levels and he was drawn to that. Then there was the fact that she was compassionate, selfless and completely willing to take the brunt of the backlash she was going to receive now that some of the locker room was realizing the real nature of their relationship.

He sighed and closed his eyes. This was all very confusing for him. Loving Sam…maybe not loving her as much as she deserved to be…maybe loving Mickie…maybe just needing her to keep his sanity…it was all making his head spin. He wanted two things at once, and for the moment, he had them both. But eventually (and it was probably going to be sooner than he liked) he was going to have to make a choice: Sam or Mickie. And honestly, he had absolutely no idea who he would choose in the end.


	5. Chapter 5

_It's nice to be home_, Mickie thought to herself as she stepped into her shower. She had three days before she had to go back out on the road, which was just fine with her. She loved her job, but it was nice to have some time off once in awhile. It kept her from going completely crazy.

Sighing to herself, she shampooed her hair and tried not to think about what Randy was doing right now. There was no doubt that he was spending quality time with Sam and Alannah right now. For some reason, it bothered her to think about Sam. She had met Randy's wife a few times and she really was a great woman. Randy deserved someone like that. He wasn't half the asshole everyone thought he was, and she was glad someone else besides her could see that.

Still, in the deepest darkest parts of Mickie's mind, it bothered her that Randy had gone home to Sam. It had bothered her when she heard Randy tell Sam he loved her. Mickie had been looking for love for a long time now, but it always seemed to elude her. In TNA, it had been Raven she had latched on to. Then it had been Trish when she had first entered the WWE. When that hadn't worked out, she tried a relationship with former Spirit Squad member Kenny (she still couldn't figure out what she had been thinking then). She had even had an affair with John Cena, but none of them made her feel the way Randy did. Randy was the one she really wanted…but she had fallen for the right guy at the wrong time. He was married and he had a family now. She couldn't ask him to destroy that just for her.

She got out of the shower and got dressed. This was getting way too complicated for her. Somebody was going to get hurt when this was all said and done; hell, maybe everyone was going to get hurt. Because even if Randy chose Sam in the end, it didn't change the fact that he had cheated in the first place. Nothing was ever going to change that. Could Sam trust him after that? Would she even want him back after the truth came out? If Sam decided she didn't want him, could Mickie take her place? Could Mickie finally have what she truly wanted?

The doorbell rang, interrupting Mickie from her thoughts. She sighed and went to answer it. To her surprise, it was someone she hadn't seen in quite awhile. "AJ? What are you doing here?"

AJ Styles grinned at her. They had become friends while she had been TNA, but they had only really maintained contact by phone ever since then. "I'm actually moving into the house next door," he told her. "And I was wondering if you could kindly help me move some of my stuff in? I was going to ask Alex and Chris to help me but they got into some stupid argument about cavemen and astronauts, so I just left them alone."

Mickie slapped him on the arm. "You're moving in next door to me? You asshole! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I wanted it to be a surprise." He rubbed his arm gingerly. "That really hurt Mickie. I think I might have to call the police and tell them you assaulted me."

"Oh you love it when I assault you." She stepped out of her house so she could go out and help him move his stuff in. "All men love a dominant female."

"Is that what Randy likes?"

She stopped in her tracks. "How do you know about me and Randy?"

He grinned. "Well let me think…Rosa overheard Melina and Kelly so she told Beth, who told Jillian, who told Vickie, who then told Adam, who told Jay and then he called and told me." He shook his head. "Honestly, I think us wrestlers are nothing more than overgrown kids who love to gossip."

Mickie sighed. The news had already spread to TNA. Now everyone from both companies were going to be talking about her and Randy behind their backs. "Is anyone planning on telling Sam?"

AJ shrugged. "Nobody I know is. I think everyone is too shocked by these sudden developments to even think about telling Sam."

"What do you mean by shocked?"

"Honey, you're fucking Randy Orton. You're the girl next door and he's…how can I put this nicely? Oh yeah, an asshole."

"He is not an asshole," Mickie said defensively. She glared at her long time friend. "And you know damn well I'm not the girl next door."

"Oh you are so the girl next door," AJ insisted. "The only difference between now and when I met you is that you used to be the psycho girl next door."

She sighed. "And they say you're supposed to be a nice boy."

"I am a nice boy. I'm just honest, which bothers people sometimes." He wrapped his arms around her. "Look Mickie, let me be serious here for a minute. I know you're a big girl and you can take care of yourself. But you need to be careful. Randy's unpredictable and he hasn't exactly been the most stable man in the world lately. If he does anything to hurt you--"

"AJ, he's not going to--"

"Just promise me you'll come to me or Phil for help if you need it." He looked at her with those pretty eyes of hers. "Or even go to Jay if you need it. Just don't let yourself get in too deep just in case he goes nuts."

"Okay," she said. "I promise." She knew that promise was useless though. She was already too deep to turn back now. But she promised anyway because she knew her friend was only trying to help. "Now come on. Let's get your stuff moved in so we can go have lunch. I'm starving over here."


	6. Chapter 6

For the entire time Randy was home, all he could think about was Mickie. He spent as much time as he could with his wife and daughter, yet all he could think about was Mickie. He wanted to see her, touch her, taste her…and every day he couldn't do that drove him crazy. She was like a drug to him, only better. He had taken drugs when he was much younger and they had never made him feel as good as she did.

Finally, when he thought he was going to lose it for good, it was time for him to fly out to Orlando. Sam drove him to the airport, making sure to give him a lot of goodbye kisses before he had to go. He was kind of sad to leave her, but he was still more excited to finally be seeing Mickie. He got on the plane and had to wait three hours for the stupid plane to ride to get over. By the time he finally got off the plane and reclaimed his bags, he was absolutely dying to see her. He got his cell phone out of his pocket and called her right away.

"Hey Randy," she said after the second ring. She knew it was him because she had a special ring tone just for him.

"Hey," he said, unable to resist a grin when he heard her voice. "Where are you?"

"I'm heading to the beach right now with a big group of people here. You should so totally meet up with us. I'm wearing that blue bikini you love so much."

"Well since you're wearing that…where is this beach at?"

"Down the street from the Mariott we're supposed to be staying at. You can't miss it."

"Okay. I'll see you in a little bit then." Randy hung up his phone and got into his rental car. Going to the beach hadn't been on his mind in the first place, but he loved that blue bikini of hers. If he couldn't look at her naked all day, then he could deal with looking at her at that bikini.

He arrived at the beach twenty minutes later. He soon found that she hadn't been kidding about the big group of people thing. Besides from her, Kelly, Melina, Candice, Jeff, Matt, Phil, Jay, Evan, Ken, Morrison, Miz, Nikki, Brie, Carlito, Primo, Christy Hemme, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Eric Young and AJ Styles were all there with her. Of course, with wrestlers being overgrown children, they were all running around like idiots. Things were so chaotic that he had trouble spotting Mickie. When he finally did see her, he found her playing tag with Jeff, Phil, AJ and Christy. "Mickie!" he yelled. "Hey Mickie!"

Mickie stopped, which caused Jeff, who was chasing her, to collide right into her. She almost fell over, but he managed to catch her just in time. "Tag! You're it!"

"Jeff that's not fair!" Mickie pouted. "That was not a tag!"

Randy chuckled as he walked over to her. "I don't think he really cares."

She sighed. "Yeah, I know." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." He looked around. "Too bad we're not all alone on a nude beach. That would be a lot more fun than this."

She grinned. "Well, if you play your cards right, we might just have to take a shower together before we head to the arena." She kissed him lightly on the lips before smirking. "Tag, you're it."

He shook his head as she let out a laugh and took off running. "Oh come on! Now that shouldn't even be allowed!" He took off after her as fast as he could. He managed to grab her by the waist. "Gotcha!" he yelled triumphantly. He threw her over his shoulders and carried her into the water. "Holy crap it's cold!" he exclaimed as he threw both himself and her into the oncoming wave.

Mickie shrieked and tried to stand up. "Randy! There was a reason that I wasn't going into the water!"

Randy grinned. "Sorry Micks." He stood up and put his arms around her. "Let me warm you up," he said as he gave her a gentle kiss.

"Hey!" Phil yelled. "You're supposed to be playing tag with us! You're not supposed to be making out!"

Randy broke the kiss long enough to glare at the Straight Edge Superstar. "Sorry Punky. It looks like you're going to have to play with your other friends. I'm claiming the girl here."

AJ ran over and held his hand out to Mickie. "Tag me neighbor," he ordered. "I'll get those idiots for you."

Mickie slapped his hand with a laugh. "Go for it Country Boy."

Randy frowned as the Phenomenal one took off running after Phil and Jeff. "Neighbor?"

Mickie nodded. "He just moved in next door to me."

"And that's a good thing?"

Her smile started to falter. "Why wouldn't that be a good thing? He's been my friend for years."

Randy couldn't help the flare of jealousy that was building inside of him. He didn't really know AJ all that well. In fact, the only reason he knew him at all was because Jeff and Jay were friends with him. So in all actuality, he had no right to mistrust AJ. Guys and girls could be friends without anything happening. Still, he did not like the fact that AJ lived so close to his Mickie.

Mickie gently turned his head so he could look her in the eyes. "Hey, don't act like that. AJ and I are just friends. That's all we've ever been and that's all we'll ever be, okay? Please don't get yourself all worked up."

He sighed. "Okay, I won't." He kissed her again, yet he couldn't help but feel AJ's eyes on them. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but then again, maybe he wasn't. Either way…it made him want to attack if AJ dared to venture too close to him and his Mickie again.


	7. Chapter 7

Mickie had just gotten done with her match when she was grabbed by Phil, Jay and Kelly and dragged into an empty room. "Guys, what the hell are you doing?" she asked.

"We need to talk," Kelly said.

"About what?"

"About Randy," Jay told her. "I don't know if you noticed this earlier, but he looked like he was getting ready to kill AJ any time he went near you."

"And don't tell us we're overreacting," Phil interrupted Mickie before she could really say anything. "We're not stupid. He's becoming possessive of you Mickie. He sees AJ as a threat and you know what he does when he feels threatened."

Mickie just stared at her three friends. "Do you guys really think he'll do something to AJ?"

Jay nodded. "I already told AJ to watch his back, but YOU need to try to talk down Randy. You need to keep him calm, because if he lays one hand on my friend, HE'S going to be the one who's going to get it next."

Mickie gulped. She could tell Jay wasn't fucking around right now. He would come after Randy if Randy went after AJ. And hell, it wouldn't just be Jay after Randy's ass if anything happened to AJ. The Phenomenal one was the darling of the TNA locker room. At attack against him could start a full scale riot. "I'll take care of it," she assured them. "It'll be okay."

Kelly gave her a skeptical look. "I know you trust Randy and all, but are you sure it's still safe for you to be with him? He's not stable honey. One of these days, he could turn against you. He could hurt you and I don't want that to happen."

"He's not going to hurt me," Mickie said with a shake of her head.

"How can you be sure?" Phil asked. "He's losing it Micks. I've never trusted him in the first place and I trust him even less now. IED or not, if he ever hurts one hair on your head--"

"You'll kill him and chop him into a million pieces," she finished for him. "Guys, AJ already gave me this talk. I know I have to get out if things turn ugly. But seriously, I need for all of you to trust me. I know what I'm doing. Randy needs help. He doesn't want to be the way he is."

The others didn't seem to fully believe her still. It was going to take more than just her assurance to make them stop worrying. She sighed and left the room. She needed to find Randy. They needed to talk about AJ. She couldn't let Randy believe AJ was a threat to him in any way shape or form. The others were right about that. Bad things would happen if she didn't try to diffuse the situation.

She knocked on Randy's dressing room door before letting herself in. She found him standing there with Ted and Cody. Those two didn't seem happy to see her, but they didn't matter. What mattered was that Randy looked ecstatic to see her.

"You guys go on ahead," he told his two lackeys. "I'll meet up with you later."

Mickie watched Cody and Ted leave and shut the door behind them before she chose to speak. "We need to talk."

Randy pouted his lips. "Oh come on babe. I can think of a whole bunch of things we could do instead."

"Randy please, just hear me out."

He sighed. "Okay. What's up?"

"Does AJ living next door to me really bother you?"

That was obviously not the subject he expected or wanted to hear about. "Do we have to talk about this?"

"AJ is my friend and he's not stupid. He had to have seen the looks you were giving him earlier. Hell, everyone else saw them. They're afraid that you're going to attack him or something."

Randy shook his head. "As long as he doesn't try to take what's mine, then we won't have a problem."

Mickie just looked at him. "He's just my friend Randy. He doesn't want any more than that and neither do I. He's not going to take me away from you."

He snorted. "All your friends want to get you away from me. They don't trust me. They think of me the same way Hunter does."

She sighed. She hated it when they got on the subject of Hunter. It usually made him so angry that he wasn't pleasant to be around. "So just prove to them that you're not going to hurt me. If they learn to see the good man I know you are, then they won't have a problem with us being together."

"I'm not a good man Mickie. I haven't been for a long time."

She cupped his face in her hands gently. "That's not true and you know it. You just don't want everyone seeing the goodness in you. But you can't hide it from me. I know there's a good man buried deep inside of you. I see it every time we're together and I love you for it."

He started to grin at her. "You've got quite the way with words, do you know that?"

She grinned back at him. "I've been told that on several occasions." I kissed him softly. "Now come on. We should probably go after Ted and Cody. They don't seem to know what to do without you."

"Yeah…they're so my bitches."

"Your bitches?" Mickie thought about that for a minute. "Yeah, I think that sums them up perfectly. Now let's go. Bitches get bitchy when you keep them waiting."

"Don't I know it."


	8. Chapter 8

Randy eyed Ted and Cody carefully as he put on his shirt. He was currently planning on going out to a club with Mickie, but it was hard to get ready when his fellow Legacy members just kept staring at him. "What are you two looking at?" he finally snapped. "Don't you two ever have anything better to do?"

Ted and Cody exchanged looks. "We heard a rumor that AJ is supposed to be at the same club we're going to tonight," Ted finally said.

"So what? Why would I care about where AJ Styles chooses to hang out?"

"Because your face twitches every time someone says his name," Cody replied. "And the vein in your neck starts to bulge a little bit."

Randy glared at them. What sucked was the fact that he knew they were right. He didn't trust the current TNA Legend's champion at all. He did believe that Mickie honestly only felt friendship towards AJ, but that didn't mean that AJ's feelings didn't go beyond that. And it also meant that he couldn't trust AJ to not try and take Mickie away from him. "Well quit noticing that stuff. You're going to get me in trouble because I don't trust the bastard."

"Well do you trust Mickie?" Ted asked.

"Of course I do."

"Well then what's there to worry about?"

"AJ."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Oh for the love of God. Randy, what the hell do you think AJ's going to do? Do you think he's like a crazy rapist or something that's going to take advantage of her when she's not expecting it."

Ted looked at his tag team partner. "I told you not to say that! Now he's going to be getting even crazier ideas than before!"

Randy sighed. "Look, I know I'm being a dumb jealous bastard. I don't need you two to tell me that. I'm trying not to be that way, but it's a work in process."

"A long work in process," Ted muttered.

"Watch it DiBiase." Randy finished getting dressed and then went out to the hotel lobby to meet up with Mickie. She was standing there with Melina and Kelly, and looking absolutely gorgeous in her black tank top and tight, hip hugging blue jeans. "Hey babe," he said.

"Hey," she said, giving him a big grin. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a small kiss. "You ready to go?"

He nodded, looking back to make sure Ted and Cody were coming. They were, so he turned back around to face the girls. "Yeah. Let's get there before it gets too crowded."

As it turned out, his words were pretty much in vain. The club was already extremely crowded by the time they got there. Randy kept a tight hold of Mickie's hand as they made their way through the club. Kelly went off to sit at a table with Chris Jericho, Matt, Eve, Jeff and his girlfriend Beth while Melina went to see Candice, Dave, Phil and Brian Kendrick. Ted and Cody went off somewhere too, but Randy didn't see where they went. "What do you want to do?" he asked Mickie.

"Let's dance," she replied. She was already pulling him out to the middle of the dance floor.

He rolled his eyes. He did not understand all women's need to dance. Then again, he wasn't going to complain, since Mickie's version of dancing was hotter than hell.

Maria, John Cena, Jay, the Bellas, Carlito, Primo, Katie Lea, AJ, Christy, Talia Madison and Shane Helms were already out on the dance floor. And it grew very fast, because the other wrestlers were all jumping in. Soon, to Randy's absolute amazement, the line of dancing wrestlers literally stretched from one end to the club to the other. "This is fucking crazy," he said to Mickie.

"I know," she agreed. "I haven't seen anything like this before."

Some yelling from behind them caused them to turn around. They found that AJ and Jeff had broken away from the line and were having their own little dance off. "Oh God," Randy groaned. He didn't know whether to laugh or just wince. "Are they seriously doing this?"

Mickie grinned. "What, you don't think they're good?"

"I just thought dance offs were for dancing movies."

"Not when Jeff's around," Mickie said with a laugh. "If he wants to dance, then he will dance." She pointed over to the bathrooms. "I'm going to the restroom real quick. I'll be right back."

"Okay." Randy let her go and he went back to watching Jeff and AJ. Matt, Shane and Jay had jumped in on the fun, and it seemed like the entire club was now staring at them now. Randy cheered along with everyone else, but after a few minutes, he looked over to the direction of the women's restroom. There he saw that Mickie was surrounded by four guys, and they were not letting her go pass them. "Son of a fucking bitch," he muttered as he stormed over there.

"Come on honey, one drink," the little ringleader of the dudes said. "We'll be on our best behavior, I swear."

Mickie looked really, really pissed off. "Okay, how many more ways do I have to say no?" she asked. She sounded really pissed off too. "Now for the last time, please get out of my way!"

"You heard what my girlfriend said," Randy growled. "Get out of her way and leave her alone."

Now the four guys' attention was on him. The little leader of the group glanced back at Mickie before looking back at Randy. "Well you should tell your little bitch to be nicer, or--"

Randy didn't let him finish the sentence. Hearing Mickie being called a bitch set him off. He head butted the first guy and then punched him in the stomach. This triggered an all out brawl that AJ, Phil, Jay, Jeff and Matt tried to break up. The key word was try though. Randy was bound and determined to take down every one of the assholes who even dared to try and corner Mickie, and that's what he did. It probably helped that the guys were already drunk, so their attacks towards him were just plain weak and sloppy. If it hadn't been for that, the brawl probably would not have turned out quite as well for him.

"Randy come on!" Mickie yelled. "Someone's calling the cops! We've got to go!"

Her voice was enough to snap a little bit of sense into him. He stopped punching the fourth guy and he quickly looked her over. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Did they try to hurt you?"

"No, they were just being assholes."

AJ tapped him on the shoulder. "Come on man, I'll drive you to the hotel. You need to get of here before the cops show up and arrest for assault."

"They started it!"

"I know, but we still need to leave like right now."

Mickie grabbed Randy's hand and forced him to follow AJ out of the club. Ted and Cody caught up with them just as they were heading towards the car.

"What the hell happened over there?" Cody asked. "Can't you go anywhere without either getting into or almost getting into a fight?"

"It doesn't look like it," Randy said. He looked at Mickie, who looked worried about something. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Does Sam watch stuff on YouTube?"

"Sometimes I think. Why?"

"Well if she does, we might be in trouble. If someone recorded that and decided to post it, then you are going to have a lot of explaining to do when you get home."

Randy cursed under his breath. He realized she had a really good point. "AJ, stop at the liquor store real quick. I really need a drink right now."


	9. Chapter 9

When Mickie woke up the next morning, she immediately got on her computer and started seeing if she could find out if anyone had caught Randy's little brawl. As it turned out, it was the top attraction in all of the wrestling dirt sheets and there were several versions of it posted all over YouTube. "Shit!" she muttered under her breath. "This is not good. This is not good at all."

"I'll have to agree with that," Randy said. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed. "Please tell me there's something good that can come out of this."

"Well the audio sucks on pretty much all of the videos, so you can't really be heard calling me your girlfriend unless you listen really REALLY closely," she said. Still, she knew that it was really going to be a matter of time now before Sam found out about everything.

Randy sighed. "What about pictures? Are there any pictures of us together?"

She nodded reluctantly. "Yeah," she said softly. "There's a few out there. None are too revealing, but they won't make her feel better if she sees the video and starts suspecting things."

"Fuck," he muttered. He took his arms off of her and began pacing back and forth. He was growing more and more agitated by the second. "I can't do this. I can't fucking do this!"

"What can't you do?"

"I can't choose between you and Sam! Once she finds out, she's going to make me choose!" He stopped and sighed. "If she doesn't just throw me out on my ass." He covered his face with his hands. "God, this is so fucked up."

Mickie sighed. "I know it is. I don't know what to do either."

Randy uncovered his face and looked at her. "Why can't Sam have it? Why can't she have the calming affect on me?"

"I don't know Randy. I--"

He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up to her feet. "What is wrong with me?" he hissed as he shook her as hard as he could. "Why can't I fucking be at peace with my own wife? She was supposed to be the best thing that had ever happened to me!" He took a deep breath and stopped shaking her. He rested his forehead against hers. "But when I'm with you…it's like she doesn't exist. I forget about my own damn wife." He chuckled. "And you say I'm a good man. What kind of good man forgets his own wife and runs around with another woman?"

Mickie just looked at him. He had a point there. "I don't know what to tell you Randy," she said. "I don't know what to do about this thing between us. It's going to have to be your decision."

He snorted. "I just said that I can't--"

"It's going to have to you who decides," she told him forcefully. She had to tell him that because it was the truth. He was the conflicted one. He was the one caught between herself and Sam. It had to be him that decided. "If you want me, then I'll be here. If you want her, then I'll just have to learn to accept it. But it has to be you who decides it. You're the one who knows what you need, even if you don't think you do." She grabbed her bag and started looking for a fresh set of clothes.

There was a knock on the door. Randy sighed and went to go answer it. "I'm glad you have so much confidence in me Mickie," he said sarcastically. "Because I really doubt that I can choose between you and my--" he stopped talking as he opened the door. Mickie wondered why and took a peek. Almost immediately, she wished she hadn't. Standing right at the doorway was Sam herself, and she looked just as shocked as she did.

_Okay, not good_, Mickie thought to herself. She hadn't even started changing into her clothes for today and was kind of glad she didn't now. This situation did not need to be anymore awkward than it already was.

Sam's gaze went back and forth from Randy to Mickie several times before settling on Randy for good. "What's going on here?" she asked slowly. "Why do you have a woman in your room?"

Randy looked like he wished the earth would swallow him up whole so he could just escape the situation. Mickie realized that he was still not ready to make the necessary choice. And instead of leaving him hanging, she decided to try to help him out a little. "There weren't any more rooms last night," she said quickly, bringing both Randy and Sam's attention to her. She picked up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. "I was sitting down in the lobby because I was going to have to sleep there when Randy found me there. He just let me room here so I could sleep on a bed."

Sam looked at her distrustfully. "The other bed doesn't look like it's been slept in."

"I already made it. I'm a neat freak like that." Mickie didn't like lying through her teeth, but now that she had started, she couldn't really stop now. "I should probably get going…I need to find Melina and Kelly." She bailed out of the room as fast as she could, leaving the married couple all alone. She kept going until she was out in the parking lot and inside her car. She threw her bag in the backseat and put her hands over her eyes. Randy was now all alone with his wife, just like he should have been in the first place.

And that bothered her more than she wanted to admit.


	10. Chapter 10

After Mickie left, Randy and Sam just stood in a very uncomfortable silence. Randy could tell by the look in Sam's eyes that as much as she wanted to, she didn't buy the quick lie Mickie had come up with. That didn't really make Randy feel a hell of a lot better. He felt so trapped at the moment and that made him nervous. He didn't want to lash out on accident just because his wife was about to confront him on something that he didn't want to come to terms with yet.

"She stayed in the other bed huh?" Sam said quietly. She folded her arms over her chest.

"Yeah," Randy tried to insist. He didn't want to be caught right now. "Why, do you not believe her or something?"

"I almost did believe her. I really did. But then I looked into your eyes and I knew that she was lying."

Randy cursed under his breath. With all the time he had been spending with Mickie, he had forgotten that Sam did know him really well. Maybe she didn't know him as well as Mickie did anymore, but she still knew him better than most people. "Sam--"

Sam held up her hand to silence him. "Just stop for a minute," she pleaded. She sank down on the bed. It looked like she was trying to keep herself from breaking down completely. "Just give me a minute."

They went back to just being silent for a long time. Randy didn't know what to do. He started to sit down next to her, but he stopped because he didn't know if that was a good idea. But then he couldn't just stand there, so he tried to go near her again. But then he got afraid of her freaking out on him, so he just stood still again.

Sam finally sighed and looked at him sadly. "Have you slept with her?"

"Yes," Randy admitted quietly. He knew he couldn't lie anymore.

She got up and slapped him across the face. "Why?" she half asked, half sobbed. "What the hell does that bitch have that I don't?"

"Don't call her a bitch."

"I'll call her whatever I want to!" She smacked him again. "What the fuck does that whore have that I don't? What can she give you that I can't?"

_Are you going to let her keep hitting you? _one of the voices asked Randy. _Is that the kind of man you are now? Are you going to let yourself get smacked around by a woman?_

_Just shut up!_ Randy's mind screamed at the voice. _You're the fucking cause of all this! You fucking made me do all this!_

_Oh come on Randy!_ the voice snapped. _You know you like it when I take the wheel. Just let me take the wheel and I'll make all of your problems go away._

"Randy?" Sam said uncertainly. "Randy answer me! Stop fucking around with me!"

Randy took several deep breaths and focused on thinking about Mickie until he could regain the control that had been slipping away from him. "She makes the voices stop," he confessed quietly. "Awhile back, the voices started haunting me constantly. "Nobody could make them stop, not even you." He shook his head. "This whole thing isn't just about sex. Mickie is the only thing keeping me sane at this point. I need her Sam. I never wanted to hurt you; I just needed something to keep me from losing my mind completely."

Sam stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. "So that's it then huh? After all we've been through, it's come down to this? What am I supposed to do Randy? Do you expect me to just accept this and let you run around behind my back with another woman?"

He shook his head. "I just want you to understand that you didn't do anything wrong. It's not about you. I'm the one who's fucked up. I'm the one to blame here."

"Oh I know that already. I don't need you to fucking tell me that." Sam backed away from him. "I can't do this Randy. I don't want to hear your reasons because I officially don't care. You want Mickie so badly? Have her. I'll make your decision so much easier for you. Alanna and I will be gone by the time you get back home."

Randy shook his head. "Sam don't do this."

"Don't tell me what I should do Randy!" She looked like she was about to cry. "Damn it Randy, I fucking loved you! I gave you everything I fucking had, but it obviously wasn't enough! And I'm not going to be the dumb bitch who takes her cheating husband back only to get left in the end. I won't do it."

He looked down at his feet. He knew that she was bringing up some very good points. He also knew that she had every right to be as upset as she was. She had been as good of a wife as she possibly could have been, and there had been a time when he had believed that she was the one he was meant to be with. But now that time had past. As much as he still loved and cared about her, he suddenly realized that he was being completely unfair to her by not actually being IN love with her. "You're right," he said. "You deserve a hell of a lot better man than I am."

Sam looked startled by his admission, and that seemed to take the fight right out of her. She started to say something else, but she lost her nerve and just bailed out of the room. Randy stood there for a long time, not knowing what he was supposed to do next. He felt like he had just been in a car wreck, only all the damage was inside of him. Finally he just laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He just kept staring and staring and staring…

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Randy blinked and saw AJ standing over him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Someone left your door open," the Phenomenal one answered. "What happened to you? You look like you got hit by a truck or something."

Randy sighed. "Sam found out about Mickie and I. She came to surprise me and found us in our room. Mickie came up with a decent excuse, but Sam just looked at me and knew. She's leaving me now."

"Oh shit. Did you tell Mickie yet?"

"Not yet. I need to."

"Well before you do, there's one thing I need to tell you."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Don't stay with Mickie just because your wife finally dumped your sorry ass. If you can't love her one hundred percent then--"

Randy got up and got in AJ's face. "I do fucking love Mickie," he snarled. "Don't you dare insinuate that I don't."

AJ nodded. "Alright then. That's all I needed to hear."

Randy shook his head. "Just get the hell out of here. I need to go find Mickie and talk to her." _And tell her that I finally know what needs to be done._


	11. Chapter 11

Mickie knew her friends wanted to know what was wrong with her, but she didn't feel like talking about Randy and Sam right now. Part of her was afraid that if she actually discussed the situation, it would somehow make Randy choose his wife instead of her. Another part of her was afraid that her friends would say it was better for Randy to be with Sam, which was not what she wanted to hear at the moment. So she just kept her mouth shut and listened to the idle chatter the other divas used to pass the time.

A knock on the locker room door interrupted her thoughts. She was busy tying her boots, so Kelly was the one who answered the door. "Oh it's you," Kelly said stiffly. "I wondered when you were going to show up."

"Nice to see you too Kelly," Randy said as he let himself in. The other divas glared at him. They obviously believed he had done something to upset Mickie.

"Hey Randy," Mickie said, doing her best to sound cheerful so her friends would quit glaring daggers at her boyfriend. Although deep down, she was wondering for just how much longer he was going to be that though. "What's up?"

"Can we talk somewhere alone for a minute?" he asked. He looked nervous, which didn't set well with her at all.

"Sure," she said with a nod. Now she was trying to sound braver than she actually felt. She got up and followed Randy all the way to his locker room. Ted and Cody were strangely absent, which was a first. Randy usually had to get rid of those two. "What happened with Sam?" she asked after Randy had shut the door.

Randy sighed. "Well she figured out that you were lying because I looked guilty as hell."

Mickie winced. "Okay, um, what does that mean for you two?"

"We're done. She's leaving me."

"Oh." Mickie didn't want to be rude and sound happy about that, so she tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible.

Randy kind of just nodded. "Yeah…it's the best. I mean, she needs a man who's actually in love with her, not one who stays with her because he feels obligated to." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "She needs a man who's not in love with someone else."

Mickie could hardly believe what she was hearing. Was Randy trying to admit that he was in love with her? She quickly looked down and bit her lip. "Randy…"

Before she knew what was happening, he was holding her face in his hands and he was kissing her for all she was worth. She responded to the kiss eagerly, literally taken off her feet when he reached down and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around him, not caring that her match was coming up soon and that they were in a locker room where anyone could just walk in…

"Randy have you seen--OH MY GOD! EW! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?"

Randy and Mickie sighed and turned to look at Cody and Ted. "I don't know Cody," Randy said in an annoyed voice. "What does it look we're doing?"

"Yeah Cody, use your pea size brain to put the pieces together," Ted with a cocky grin.

"Shut the fuck up dude!" Cody growled. "I meant…I just…damn it, I hate all of you!"

Mickie almost started laughing right then and there. Cody sounded so damn flustered that it was almost kind of cute. "Well Cody, when two people feel a love and an attraction towards each other, sometimes they make out. And other times, they have sex. We didn't get that far because you two don't know when to go away."

Cody glared at her. "Okay, what happened with Sam? I liked her better. She didn't sass me."

"That was because she thought you had down syndrome or something," Ted said with a laugh.

"Why would she think that?"

"Because that's what I told her."

"What?"

Randy rolled his eyes and set Mickie down on her feet. "You have a match coming up," he reminded her.

"I know," she said with a pout. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Cody and Ted's argument turning violent, but she really didn't care about that. "And you do too."

"Your locker room after I'm done? I think Mr. and Mrs. Dumbass will still be fighting in mine."

"I'm the mister!" Ted shouted.

"Oh you'll be a missus in about two seconds!" Cody yelled as he tackled Ted to the ground.

"Okay," Mickie said with a nod. She gave him another kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Cody and Ted both made gagging noises.

"That's it! I'm kicking both of your asses!" Randy yelled as Mickie left the room. She would have much rather stayed and watch, but she didn't think Kelly and Melina would appreciate her abandoning them.

"There you are," Melina said when she finally caught up with them. "Where have you been? We're on in just a minute!"

"Sorry," Mickie apologized. "Randy had to tell me that him and Sam are over now."

"Are you serious?" Kelly asked. "Does that mean you two are staying together?"

Mickie frowned at the tone of her friend's voice. "Do you got a problem with that Kelly?"

"Well let's think about this for a second: he had just spent months lying and cheating on his soon to be ex-wife. Who's to say he won't do it again to you?"

"Come on, let's not have this conversation now," Melina said.

Mickie shook her head. "He's not going to do that to me."

"Mickie--"

"Kelly just drop it," Mickie ordered. "Okay?"

"Fine, whatever," Kelly said with a shake of her head.

_What the hell is wrong with her?_ Mickie asked herself as they started heading towards the ring. _I finally get the one thing I've been wanting for weeks and she has to go and try to raise doubts in my head. I have no reason to doubt Randy…do I?_


	12. Chapter 12

Randy and Mickie went back to his hotel room together. He was as happy as he could be, but he noticed that something seemed to be bothering her. Before they had left the arena, he had also noticed that she and Kelly hadn't been talking to each other. It had seemed that they had gotten into a fight, but nobody was telling him why.

Mickie unlocked the door for them and went in first. "You want to know what I need right now? I need a hot shower. I'm so damn sore from my match earlier."

Randy quirked an eyebrow. "Am I allowed to join in on this hot shower?"

"Of course," she said with a grin. "I don't want to get lonely while I'm in there."

He let her lead him into the bathroom, becoming more and more turned on by thinking about her all wet and naked. "So what was the deal with you and Kelly earlier?" he asked. "You two looked pissed at each other."

Mickie rolled her eyes. "She was just trying to talk about things that were none of her business."

"Such as?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yeah. She was saying that I shouldn't be trusting you because you cheated on Sam and all that." Mickie was trying to sound casual, but it was obvious that Kelly had gotten under her skin.

"Well do you trust me?" he asked. He wanted to make sure Kelly hadn't started making cracks in their bond.

"Of course I do. Would I be here if I didn't?"

He shook his head. "No, probably not."

"Well there you go. Question answered." Mickie took her shirt off and grinned. "Now come on. That shower is getting all cold and lonely without us in it."

Randy grinned back at her and quickly stripped off his clothes. The shower wasn't the biggest one he had ever used before in his life, but it was big enough to fit the both of them. He helped her shampoo her hair and then he massaged her shoulders until she started making little sounds of pleasure. That was when he got really distracted.

Mickie turned around and grinned at him. "I take it you're having fun," she said with a smirk.

Randy glanced down and saw that he had a raging hard on. "Well yeah, but I could be having a lot more fun if you were willing to help me out a little."

"Well who said I wasn't willing to help?" She wrapped her arms around him and grinned at him seductively. "You want me? Take me."

He didn't need to be told twice. He lifted her up so she wrap her legs around his waist and he entered her with one swift motion. They both groaned in pleasure, taking a moment so things wouldn't end too soon. "Fucking hell Mickie," he said under his breath. "You fit like a fucking glove."

She kissed him and held on to him even more tightly. "Okay, you need to move like right now," she said breathlessly. "I need you so fucking bad."

So he moved hard and fast, holding on to her as tightly as he could so she wouldn't slip out of his grasp. It wasn't the longest he had ever lasted during a session of sex, but he still managed to make Mickie come before him, so he did feel some sort of sense of accomplishment.

"Oh fuck," she said once they were done. She was back on her own two feet and she was trying to rinse herself off. "My legs feel all shaky."

He smirked. "Well you know what my warning label says: a daily dose of the Legend Killer may cause shaky legs, dizzy spells, fatigue and many orgasms."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll try to keep that in mind." She shut off the water and they both got out. They dried off as best as they could before climbing into bed. They didn't bother to put on any clothes because they both knew they would just end up fucking again before the night was over. "So what are you and Sam going to do about Alanna?" Mickie asked as they cuddled up against each other. "Who's going to get custody?"

Randy shook his head. "I don't know. I would think Sam because of my travel schedule. I'm just hoping she won't try to keep me from Alanna completely because of all this. I just want to settle this as quickly and peacefully as possible."

Mickie nodded. "I get that. I want that too. I don't want have to watch you go through a long and bitter divorce just because of me."

"Well you're worth it if I do." He kissed her on the forehead. "And if I have to, I will fight for my daughter. I'm not going to lose her if Sam decides to turn into a bitter woman." He frowned as he realized something. "Not that she doesn't have the right to be and all that…I'm just saying…"

"I get it," Mickie assured him.

"Sure you do." He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "What are you going to do about Kelly? You can't just stay mad at her."

She sighed. "I don't know. I'll figure that out tomorrow. Right now, I'm fine with just laying here with you."

He smiled slightly. He knew that he was going to have to start dealing with the Sam situation, but right now, he was okay with just laying here too. In fact, there was not other place that he could think of that he would rather be at the moment.


	13. Chapter 13

When Mickie woke up the next morning, she woke up to the sound of Randy talking to his lawyer on the phone. She couldn't make out exactly what he was saying because he was talking so low, but it was probably about the divorce and the custody of Alanna. Now Mickie knew that there would be nothing in the world he wanted more now than to get full custody of his baby, but that wasn't possible with his schedule. He couldn't take her out on the road all the time. She was just too young. She needed more stability. She did need Sam to take care of her. Unfortunately, as Mickie heard the urgency grow in Randy's voice, she had the feeling that Sam did not seem to think that Alanna needed her father anymore.

"Just call her lawyer and tell her I'm fighting her on this," Randy said, finally speaking loud enough for Mickie to hear. "I'm not losing my daughter just because things ended badly between us."

Mickie sighed. Damn it, she had been right. Sam was trying to keep Alanna from him now. She knew that Sam had ever right in the world to be angry at the moment, Randy loved his daughter more than anything in the world. It would kill him to lose her completely.

Randy finished up his conversation and then hung up the phone. "Damn it to hell Mickie, I made a mess out of this situation," he said as he laid back down next to her. "I should have just asked for a divorce before she found out about us. Now she's just doing this to get back at me."

Mickie ran her fingers over his shoulders gently. Hindsight really did give someone perfect vision. "Well it's too late for that now," she reminded him. "We just have to hope that she calms down enough to be more reasonable soon."

"Do you think that could happen?"

"I hope so. I want you to be able to see Alanna whenever you can."

"Yeah, and I want you to meet her too. She would like you."

Mickie grinned. That was so sweet. She was about to kiss him when a loud noise from the hallway made her look up. "What the hell was that?"

"It's evil I tell you!" Jeff shouted at the top of his lungs. "EVIL!"

"It is not evil!" Matt yelled irritably. "And would you get off of me? I am not a fucking tree for you to climb on!"

"What the hell is he babbling about now?" Melina asked.

"Sugar free candy."

Randy groaned and laughed at the same time. "Oh God. Hardy is a damn idiot."

"He's not an idiot," Mickie said defensively. She liked Jeff and thought he was a good friend, so she stuck up for him whenever someone said anything against him. "He just has certain beliefs about candy that cannot be messed with. In his eyes, sugar free candy is the root of all evil."

Randy rolled his eyes. "He's a drama queen that has some serious issues if you ask me." He looked over at the clock that was next to their bed. "You want to come back to St. Louis with me? I'll be awfully lonely without you for the next several days."

She grinned. He had the most adorable pout on his face. "Of course I'll come with you. I wouldn't want you to be lonely."

That made him grin too. "Good. It would be great if you were around all the time. You know, always around…my house…stuff…"

"Randy, are you trying to ask me to move in with you without actually doing it?" she asked in amusement.

He gave her a sheepish look. "Maybe," he admitted. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to yet, but--"

"I would love to move in with you," she interrupted before he could start babbling. "Let's go back to St. Louis for now and try to get things sorted out with Sam before we start moving my stuff to your place. It might be better if you try to get things worked out with her sooner rather than later."

Randy nodded. "Okay, that sounds good to me." He rolled out of bed and started looking around. "Now where the hell did our clothes go?" He searched for them but had little luck at first. "Did magical clothes fairies take them away? No, I can't say that. That's something Cody or Jeff would say."

Mickie giggled. Randy was so cute when he was looking for stuff he couldn't find. "Sweetie, our clothes are over there," she said, pointing to the other side of the room.

"Oh," Randy said. He turned a deep shade of red and grabbed them. "I knew that."

"Sure you did," she said with a grin.

"Don't look at me like that. I'll spank that look right off your face."

She raised her eyebrows. "I would actually like for you to try that. That would be interesting."

"RANDY AND MICKIE SITTING ON THE BED! S-P-A-N-K-I-N-G!

"Jeff! What did I tell you about eavesdropping on us?" Randy yelled.

"FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN--"

Mickie laughed as Randy threw on some pants, opened the door and attempted to chase down the Charismatic Enigma. Those two were funny when they got into it. But on a more serious note, she decided that if Randy didn't have any luck talking to Sam, she would try to do it herself. She knew it could end with her being hit, but maybe once the future ex-wife of Randy got that out of her system, she would not use Alanna as a pawn in the divorce. At least that was what Mickie was hoping for anyway. Sometimes what she wanted and what actually happened didn't go hand in hand.


	14. Chapter 14

Randy found it a little surreal that Mickie was now going to be living in his house with him instead of Sam. He had been wanting this to happen for quite some time now, but he had never thought it would really happen. Well, at least not this soon. He had been hoping to divorce Sam first before the whole thing about his relationship with Mickie came out, but it was his own damn fault that things didn't work out like that, so he was just going to have to deal with the consequences.

And part of that dealing meant trying to talk to Sam before the divorce could get ugly. He wanted to end the mess before the shit got even worse. But he knew that was going to be easier said than done. He doubted that she was even going to want to talk to him, and even if she did give him a chance to start speaking, the whole thing would just escalate into a fight. It seemed like no matter which way he looked at it, he was just fucked.

He sighed and searched the pantry for something to eat. There was very little in there to eat, and he wondered if Sam took the food just to spite him. _If she did, then I'm going to have an even harder time trying to talk to her than I thought I would. She knows I'm always fucking hungry when I'm here._

Mickie poked her head into the pantry. "You okay Randy?"

Randy shook his head. "I have nothing to eat."

"So go to the store and get us stuff to eat," she told him. She adjusted her purse, which was hanging over her shoulder. "I've got an errand to run."

He raised his eyebrows. "An errand?"

"Mmhmm."

"What kind of errand?"

"The kind where I go to see Sam and talk to her to try to get things smoothed out a little bit."

Randy looked at her in shock. He had not expected that to come out of her mouth. "Well fuck me with a stick--when did you decide that was a good idea?"

Mickie frowned. "You want me to do what with a stick?"

He shook his head. "Cody said it the other day and it kind of just came out. Just forget I even said it; it's not important. Let's focus on the part where you think talking to Sam will lead to good stuff instead of a cat fight."

She shrugged. "I figured one of us had to try and since you're the one who broke her heart, she might not listen to you all that well."

He sighed. "You know, when you say it like that, it makes me feel like the bad guy."

She grinned and gave him a kiss. "Sorry babe. I thought I would just be blunt with you."

"If you're not back in an hour, should I assume that you two killed each other?" he asked as she started to leave the room.

"Maybe," she called back.

"Wait, how do you know where she is?"

"I found her mom's address in your address book and I figured I would look there first. You told me they were close."

Oh yeah, Randy had forgotten that he had mentioned that to her before. He tried to chase after her to warn her that his soon to be former mother in law was an evil bitch from hell, but she was already out the door by that point. "Well hopefully the old hag won't be home when she gets there," he muttered as he headed back to the kitchen to get the keys to his other car. If Mickie was going to take care of the Sam thing, he figured that he should at least try to take care of the food situation. They had to have something to eat after all.

XXXXXXXXX

Mickie had been to St. Louis enough times for shows that she could find her way around the city without too many problems. And Randy's mother in law's house wasn't that hard to find; it only took her about twenty minutes to get there. When she arrived at the old, two story house, she saw that Sam was watching Alanna play in the yard. The little girl looked up and started waving her arms around excitedly. "Da! Da!"

The look on Sam's face was a complete mix of emotions. Mickie slowly got out of the car and approached the other woman. She tried not to focus too much on the confused look on Alanna's face when her daddy did not emerge from his own car. "Can we talk?" she asked.

Sam just stared at her for a moment before her face hardened. "About what?"

Mickie sighed. Maybe if she just blurted this out things would go a lot smoother. "Look, I know that there's really nothing Randy and I can do or say that will make you feel better about this. What we did this wrong and we apologize for it. I should have told him that if he was having feelings for me, he needed to break things off with you first."

Sam put her hands on her hips. "I think I could think up of a couple of other things you should have done, but I'm not going to get into that right now. Is there anything else you want to say?"

Mickie nodded. "Yeah, and don't slap me for bringing it up, but it's about Alanna."

Sam continued to glare at her. "I don't see how my daughter is any business of yours."

"She's not," Mickie agreed. "But it is Randy's concerned. Look, there's no doubt that you'll get primary custody since you're not constantly out on the road. But despite what Randy did, he still loves his daughter and he should be allowed to see her." She nodded towards the little girl. "And judging from the fact that she's still obviously expecting him to come out of the car, you can't ignore the fact that she loves him too."

Sam scowled for a moment before sighing. She looked like a defeated woman. "Okay, you made your point. Can you just go away please? I feel like I'm only going to be reasonable for so long here."

Mickie nodded and backed off. She could sense that her words had gotten through to the scorned woman at least a little bit. She went back into the car and backed out of the driveway, knowing the ball was in Sam's court now. Hopefully the woman would make the decision that involved Randy getting to see Alanna. Despite the way the marriage had ended, the kid didn't need to get involved in the ugliness of the situation. That would just bring more trouble for everyone in the long run.


	15. Chapter 15

Randy and Mickie did their best to enjoy their time off as much as possible, although Randy was having a harder time of it because thoughts of Alanna and his upcoming divorce proceedings were weighing heavily on him. Sam had officially filed for divorce, but that was as far as anything had gone. He tried to call her a few times, but she never answered any of his calls. Mickie tried to assure him that Sam just needed more time to come around, but he knew from personal experience that scorned women weren't always the most rational creatures in the world. He knew that he possibly still had a long fight ahead of him to get his daughter back.

Sam hadn't said anything to him by the time they had to leave St. Louis again, so Randy had to endure a four day tour that involved not knowing what his ex was going to do. Mickie did everything she could to be loving and supportive, and he appreciated her efforts. Unfortunately, Ted and Cody did not get the memo, so they were just as annoying as ever.

"Dude, come on!" Ted whined on the last night of the tour. He and Cody had invaded Mickie and Randy's room, even though Randy had pretty much told them he wanted them to leave. "That is cheating! You can't do that!"

"It's not cheating," Cody insisted. "It's an Extreme Rules match and I can do anything I want."

"What's going on?" Mickie asked, who was just returning from getting candy from the vending machine.

"They're playing _Smackdown vs. Raw 2009_," Randy muttered. "Ted's being Shawn and Cody's being Taker. Cody has been hitting Ted with a steel chair for like ten minutes now and Ted's getting pissed."

"Damn right I am!" Ted said angrily. He elbowed Cody on the arm as hard as he could. "The mother fucker isn't letting me win!"

"I'm not supposed to let you win!" Cody snapped. He smacked Ted across the face. "Taker beats everybody! That's just the way it is!"

"Well I'm just going to beat the shit out of you if I lose!" Ted snarled. "So you better rethink your strategy here."

Randy rubbed his temples. He was seriously about to kill the both of them. "If you two don't shut the hell up this instant, I am going to take the Playstation 2 and beat the ever loving shit out of you with it," he growled. "I am not joking right now."

Ted and Cody shut up and went back to quietly playing their game. Mickie gave Randy a sympathetic look as she sat down on the bed with him. "Honey, I hate to tell you this, but when your friends give you this big of a headache all the time, it's probably time to get new friends."

He shook his head. "Cody and Ted are not my friends. They are just…I don't know. Let's just call them my groupies." He paused when he realized just what he said. "Okay ew, why did I just word it like that?"

"Yeah, I agree," Cody said. He and Ted had paused the game so they could turn around and glare at Randy. "I mean seriously man, your groupies? You think we're your groupies? What kind of sick, demented world you live in boy?"

Randy glared back at him. "First of all, don't call me boy. Second of all, you two need to take your game and get out. Mickie and I want to be alone right now."

"But you always hang out with her," Ted pouted. "It's like you like her more than us."

"Well yeah," Randy confirmed. "What's your point?"

Mickie giggled as Ted and Cody gathered up their game and left the room. "You know, if they weren't so dumb, I'd feel bad about you being mean to them all the time," she said.

Randy shook his head. "Maybe if they weren't so dumb, I wouldn't have to be so mean to them. But they are, and I'm not sorry."

She grinned. "Well don't worry, because I'm not asking you to be."

"Good." He kissed her sweetly, groaning as his phone rang at that moment. "You think I should just leave it?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, you should get it. It might be important."

He grumbled under his breath, but he did answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Randy it's me," Sam said.

Randy sat straight. "Oh. Hi Sam. What's going on?"

She sighed. "Look, I've been thinking a lot lately, and I just want to get this divorce over as fast as possible. It's not going to do us any good by drawing this out. And that means I'm willing to give you visitation to Alanna whenever you're home. Just because I'm furious about what you've done doesn't mean I need to ruin her with this mess."

Randy could hardly believe he was actually hearing this. "Thank you," he said gratefully. "And I know this won't change anything, but I'm--"

"I know, you're sorry," Sam interrupted. She didn't sound angry; just tired. "Just…let's just talk more when you get back to St. Louis, okay?"

"Ok," he agreed. "Tell Alanna I love her for me?"

"I'll even give her a kiss for you while I'm at it," Sam agreed. "Bye Randy."

"Bye Sam." He hung up the phone and smiled at Mickie. "You are the best."

"What did she say?" Mickie asked.

"She's willing to give me visitation. She's not going to keep Alanna away from me." Randy put his arm around Mickie and held her tightly. He probably had the biggest and stupidest grin on his face, but he didn't care how he looked at the moment. He was just too damn happy to give a shit about anything else.

Mickie smiled and rested her head on his chest. "I'm glad she changed her mind. I know what your baby means to you."

"Yeah," Randy said quietly. "She's probably the best thing that came from my relationship with Sam." He kissed the top of Mickie's head. "You know what I think we should do? I think we should get some wine and go have our own celebration in the tub."

Mickie raised her eyebrow. "Are you trying to seduce me Mr. Orton?"

"Oh, I have to try now? I'm hurt."

She giggled at the pout on his face and reached for the phone. "I'll call room service and tell them to bring some wine up. You go fill the tub baby."

Randy kissed her on the cheek and went to go do just that. Tomorrow he would go back home and see Sam and Alanna and deal with cleaning up the rest of that mess then. Tonight was about him and Mickie. And honestly, he couldn't be any happier about the way things had worked out.


End file.
